


John Reese, Megan and Andrew Part 2

by SVG67



Category: Person Of Interest - Fandom
Genre: Cura Te Ipsum, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-28
Updated: 2013-03-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 19:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/739112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SVG67/pseuds/SVG67
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The following descriptions illustrate the symmetry, parallels and symbolism I found while transcribing Cura Te Ipsum; specifically the two related scenes with John and Megan, and John and Andrew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	John Reese, Megan and Andrew Part 2

Symmetry  
Both scenes take place in an enclosed space with windows all along the back. Each person sits on either side of a table with a window framing each scene. The windows reflect infinity. 

John sits on the left. His body movement is minimal. He uses facial expressions and his voice to convey his meaning, almost exclusively. Even these are minimal and languid. 

Megan and Andrew sit on the right. Their body movements are many and fitful. They are tearful and distressed as they plead and bargain. 

 

Parallels

Parallel 1  
John has three body movements that he uses in both scenes. 

Movement One  
He tilts his head to the left twice with Megan, to encourage her to speak and express his concern.

John tilts his head at Andrew only once, not in encouragement, but mainly curiosity, a kind of toying with Andrew.

Movement Two  
John leans over the table with Megan in an attempt to get her to look at him and to  
connect with her.

When John leans over the table at Andrew it is most definitely to intimidate him. 

Movement Three  
John lays his arms outstretched in parallel on the table. Here, he holds Megan’s hand to comfort her and to thank her. His arms are almost continually on the table, palms down, during the entire scene.

John lays his arms in parallel on the table only twice in the scene with Andrew. Both times it is to intimidate, not comfort.

 

Parallel 2  
Megan and Andrew have one movement in common, besides their constant fidgeting. It has a similar meaning for both of them and occurs in almost the same place in each of their respective scenes. Near the end of each scene, as they both realize that they will most assuredly give up their will to the man sitting across from them, Megan and Andrew hold their hands out in front of them, fingers open, palms facing each other in parallel. And both Megan and Andrew use this gesture to express their frustration.

Megan holds her hands close to her face. “Why are you here”? 

Andrew, closer to his body. “You…you…you… don’t wanna do something you’re gonna regret”.

 

Parallel 3  
John confesses to both Megan and Andrew that he has killed before and the experience has left him damaged. 

In the scene with Megan, John appears visibly upset and in emotional pain. The connection between Megan and himself becomes stronger.

In the scene with Andrew, John gets an eerie, strange and oddly terrifying look on his face. Andrew becomes frightened even more.

 

Parallel 4  
Andrew was drugged and incapacitated by the taser, just as Andrew drugged his own victims, incapacitating them. 

Andrew is faced with a cold, calculating, unemotional hunter, just as Gabrielle and his other victims were faced with Andrew, a cold, narcissistic, unfeeling predator. 

And just as Andrew pleads and begs with tears and choking fear to no avail, Gabrielle and his other victims most likely did those very same things, again to no avail. 

 

Symbolism

Megan 1  
Megan arrives at the diner around midnight, just as one day is ending and another is about to begin. It is also symbolic of one thing ending (Megan’s plan for murder) and another thing beginning (getting her life back). 

John is the personification of this specific moment in time. He is her opportunity to abandon her plan, turn around and go home.

Megan 2  
That Megan arrives in the dark, in the middle of the night, is reminiscent of her inner turmoil. This is literally her darkest hour. She is in the process of committing murder. An act of desperation, and willful destruction of life. To kill is not in her nature. 

Megan 3  
The diner is intimate and small. There is little space to move around in. It is a public place with a few patrons and a policeman present. Megan is physically and metaphorically trapped in the booth. She can’t leave because the stranger who sits across from her may block her path, or worse, expose her secret to the policeman at the end of the counter. She can’t stay because Andrew may awaken or be discovered. She can’t give up her plan to murder Andrew. There would be no justice for herself or her sister. She can’t continue with her plan, because the stranger before her is most compelling and insistent.

Megan 4  
The diner is dimly lit with a warm, yellowish glow. This reflects John’s compassionate, friendly manner. 

Megan 5  
The shadows are indistinct and blurred, just as Megan’s will and determination begin to take on a dreamlike quality. She was clear in her intent when she entered. When she leaves, she is unclear and uncertain.

 

Megan 6  
The passing of her keys to John is symbolic of Megan passing her burden onto him. The keys also represent her entire plan to kill Andrew.

The keys connect not only to the van with Andrew inside, but to the vacation home in Montauk with the pantry full of lye.

 

Andrew 1  
For Andrew, the beautiful, peaceful setting that he finds himself in reflects his life before he met Megan and was introduced to John. Andrew is literally at the highest point of his life until this moment. He is healthy, good looking and wealthy. Andrew preyed on unsuspecting women with abandon and without fear of reprisal, until now.

 

Andrew 2  
A gun, loaded or not, can be a metaphor for many things. Here, on the table, in front of Andrew, it is a signal of confrontation It is also, a symbol of accusation. This gun is here because you deserve to die. It can be a symbol of rape, which in this case is disturbingly poetic. A gun is also a symbol of death.

But the gun also symbolizes Andrew’s captivity. He is not pinned into a small space, like Megan. Quite the contrary. The table is large, the kitchen area is large, the whole house is large, including the expansive view through the bay windows. He is not tied or restrained in any way, but Andrew is captive, none the less. It doesn’t matter if the gun is loaded or not. Andrew can not out run the hunter who watches over it.

Andrew 4  
The kitchen area is filled with cool, blue, morning light, which reflects John’s frigid attitude toward Andrew. 

Andrew 5  
The kitchen is bright with crisp, sharp shadows. At first Andrew was groggy and unsure of his surroundings. As his conversation ends with John, Andrew can see clearly there will be no happy ending for him.

 

Megan 7  
The evening, as stated previously, represents Megan at the lowest point of her life. She arrives at midnight, that point in time where one thing ends and another begins. John, and the conversation they have, is the fulcrum over which Megan teeters back and forth between getting her revenge for Gabrielle and herself, and turning it over to John. 

The scene, the evening, the conversation, the ultimate giving up the keys, represents the end of Megan’s constant, compulsive, destructive thoughts of Andrew and the death of her sister. It represents the letting go of the need for revenge.

The next morning, at the vacation house, when the sun rises over the water with the birds crying and flying gracefully the scene is idyllic. It is beautiful, peaceful and calm.

This represents Megan’s new freedom, new day and new life. For the first time in weeks she is free of her need to kill Andrew. For the first time in years, her guilt and repressed rage over the death of her sister has subsided. A tremendous weight has been lifted from her and passed on to a stranger.

 

Epilogue  
Imagine the following scene.

Just as Andrew is waking up in the breakfast nook of the vacation home, Megan is already dressed and ready for work. After a fitful nights sleep, if she slept at all, it may seem like the events of the night before were a dream, and this morning is like any other morning, the beginning of any other day. But it’s not. There is a peacefulness and calmness to this morning. There is a brightness, and a weightlessness to this day. Her life is once again her own. 

Imagine, days and weeks and months go by. She will stop by Andrew’s loft and find it empty until one day a new resident moves in. She will check on his work and be told that Andrew just didn’t show up one day. She will search for him in her neighborhood and that little French restaurant. She will discover he is not there. 

Imagine, during this time, Megan thinks about the man who came from the shadows, into her darkness, concerned only with her soul. Who could he have been? And why was he there? What mortal man would do such a thing? He must have been an apparition, a wraith, or an angel. It would be the only rational explanation for an irrational happening


End file.
